Although broadcasters have sophisticated systems for inserting national commercials into a program stream, including integrated traffic and billing systems, there are numerous obstacles to implementing a system to insert local commercials at small markets into a national program feed distributed by satellite. Until now, such local spot insertion advertising was the responsibility of the local broadcaster or cable operator.
Inserting local advertising poses several nontrivial technical, logistical and business challenges. First, literally hundreds of widely distributed local operators (or affiliates) would need to receive the commercials; ad agencies would have to ship analog tapes to hundreds of organizations, with different traffic and billing systems. These tapes would need to be tested for quality assurance, tracked, and stored until needed. They would then have to be distributed to video tape recorders and readied for computer controlled playout (analog) at the proper time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Such infrastructure generally exists at well-funded affiliates in major markets but is nonexistent and prohibitively expensive for smaller operators or affiliates in small markets.
Managing such tapes with ads for local commercials and inserting them properly into the program feed is a complex undertaking not well-suited for the smaller operators, especially for channels with smaller audiences in smaller markets. A quality broadcast involves more than excellent program material; it must provide seamless insertion of national and local advertisements, promotions, and station identifications.
Equally important is the ability to maintain the integrity of the national television programming. Centralized control of the channel's programming (playout) is required to prevent local affiliates from tampering with the programming.
Accordingly, a need exists for an efficient system for reliable playout including inventory management in a remote site of a digital media distributor system. The present invention addresses such a need.